Defendant Brandon N. McGlover, sitting with attorney Joseph Camarata,
listens Feb. 14, 2019, as he is sentenced to 12 years, four months,
for setting fires near Idyllwild in July 2018 including the Cranston
fire. (Brian Rokos, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Brandon N. McGlover, the Temecula resident charged with setting the Cranston fire and other blazes near Idyllwild in July, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of arson of a structure or forest land and was sentenced to 12 years, four months in prison.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that the charges to which McGlover pleaded better reflected the crimes he committed.

“The original charges filed against McGlover required proving to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that he had a specific intent to burn structures, which the evidence in the case does not support,” the statement said.

In sentencing McGlover, Superior Court Judge Kelly L. Hansen noted that many residents of the San Jacinto Mountains affected by the fires had hoped to attend the hearing at Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. But they remained home because of the threat of mudslides — a threat created in part when the fires McGlover set killed the vegetation that holds the mountainsides together.

McGlover’s motive remains a mystery, to the frustration of those victims.

“They’re still very angry; they all want to know why. We’ve not been able to answer that question in any way, shape or form,” Deputy District Attorney Dan Fox told Hansen.

“Frankly,” Hansen said, “the court has the same question the victims have. The defendant has elected not to share with the court what his motives were. But the fact is, because of his plea, the crimes he pled guilty to, he has acknowledged his malicious intent. … For whatever reason, he received some type of adrenaline rush from watching the fires burn, from watching people flee their homes in terror.”

Hansen also ordered McGlover to pay restitution, an amount that could be “hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars,” the judge said.

Fox related statements from three victims, who talked about building custom homes from the ground up, only to see them burn to the ground. They said that in addition to losing property, they lost something no amount of money can replace: peace of mind. The victims said they suffered depression, anxiety, shock, numbness and grief — and the loss of a husband.

Janine Munson could not even write out her statement, Fox said, because of her grief. She told Fox that her husband, Tim Hammons, suffered a heart attack as they drove down the mountain to Hemet. Hammons had previously had a quadruple bypass, but doctors told him that they could not repair the latest damage. He died Aug. 8.

“Ms. Munson wanted the court to know that the doctors and her hold Mr. McGlover liable for the death of her husband,” Fox said.

Andrea Bond, in her statement, said to McGlover, “You singlehandedly have affected my life in a devastating way.”

She said the forest, once beautiful, was turned into something similar to “a lunar landscape. All life, gone.”

Alta Kavanaugh’s statement said in part, “My home burned to the ground, and my life was forever altered.”

Police arrested McGlover about 12:30 p.m. on July 25, 2018, at Newport Road and State Street, south of Hemet. Witnesses told authorities that they saw him starting multiple fires, with one person following McGlover and providing police with a description of his car, a white Honda.

McGlover had no previous documented criminal record in Riverside County.

His attorney, Temecula-based Joseph Camarata, told the court, “He would like to offer his deepest sympathies to everyone who has been affected by these fires.”

McGlover declined an offer to speak on his own behalf.

Hansen noted that among those affected were McGlover’s parents, who sat in the courtroom behind their son.

“I want Mr. McGlover to know that I consider his parents victims as well,” Hansen said. “I hope he reflects on the pain he has inflicted on his parents.”

McGlover’s parents declined to immediately provide a statement.

Camarata had one last request of Hansen before his client was led away in chains: for McGlover to be allowed to hug his parents.

Brian Rokos writes about public safety issues such as policing, criminal justice, scams, how law affects public safety, firefighting tactics and wildland fire danger. He has also covered the cities of San Bernardino, Corona, Norco, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Canyon Lake and Hemet. Before that he supervised reporters and worked as a copy editor. For some reason, he enjoys movies where the Earth is threatened with extinction.